November 1998

Staff -- School Library Journal, 11/1/1998

USM Serves School Librarians

In the article "The Prognosis, Doctor? In Some States, School Library Staffing's on the Mend" (SLJ, August 1998, pp. 32D35), Dr. Nancy Everhart presented an insert on page 35 entitled "The Mississippi Miracle" that gave Mississippi well-deserved applause for the commendable decrease in the student: librarian ratio from 1994D98. However, this applause was followed by a surprisingly negative and undocumented statement regarding lack of expanded course offerings for school librarians in the School of Library and Information Science at the University of Southern Mississippi. I was never contacted by Dr. Everhart for information regarding our course offerings and, as director of the school, I am responding to her statement in that insert.

To address the need for certified school librarians, our program has continuously offered 100 percent of required school library media courses during each academic year on our campus and has expanded course offerings through distance education via interactive video network (IVN) and through extension sites. Currently, our IVN network broadcasts to seven locations within our state covering northeast, northwest, central, and coastal areas.

The success of our efforts is evidenced by the steady and notable increase in the number of school librarians in our state between 1994 to 1997 and the simultaneous decrease in the student: librarian ratio (National Center for Education Statistics, Public School Student, Staff, and Graduate Counts by State, School Year, documents 96D300, 97D541, and 98D219). With the addition of a faculty position in 1997, almost 30 percent of our faculty focus on the school library media area.

Educational opportunities for school librarians in our program are not restricted to the availability of course offerings. To address the critical shortages of Mississippi librarians, our program has presented proposals to the U.S. Department of Education resulting in grant awards in the last two years of more than $130,000 to provide financial assistance to students seeking a master's degree. Other avenues of financial assistance are available through our program and through assistantship funding from our university. In 1996, the opportunity for librarians to expand their professional skills beyond the master's degree came with the approval of our specialist degree program.

A careful look at the facts reveals that our program is making a significant statewide impact both in improving the availability of educational opportunities for librarians and in reducing the student-to-librarian ratio to which we all aspire as advocates for school librarians.

The author replies:

In preparing "The Prognosis, Doctor?" I contacted knowledgeable individuals for clarification when obvious discrepancies arose between 1994 and 1998 data. These included state supervisors, faculty members in library schools in charge of school media studies, leaders of professional associations, and school library media specialists active on LM_NET. This was the case in Mississippi, both while I was writing the article and since Dr. Greiner has expressed her concerns, although Dr. Greiner was not contacted personally.

The University of Southern Mississippi was highlighted because of the unique situation in that state -- new legislation requiring school library media specialists and the fact that there is only one ALA-accredited library school in the state to respond to this demand. Unfortunately, those to whom I spoke have used much stronger language than Ohas not expanded offerings in its school library concentration" (p. 35) when describing the university's response to the legislation and the overall status of school library media within the School of Library and Information Science. Although course offerings may have been expanded in a general sense, they felt issues specific to school library media specialists were not being addressed. They were dismayed that despite the new legislation, the school showed a lack of commitment to the school library media concentration, which was reflected in a pattern of not hiring faculty members with definitive school library media backgrounds and using adjuncts and one-year appointees for school library media positions, rather than tenured faculty. This is confirmed by the Association for Library and Information Science Education Membership Directory.

It was also brought to my attention that the increase in school library media specialists in Mississippi is in large part due to those working with emergency certificates, rather than full degrees, and does not necessarily constitute responsiveness by USM. Additionally, students are exercising the options of attending library schools in neighboring states or via distance education programs now available on the Internet.

There were other concerns expressed, such as convenient scheduling of classes for those seeking school media certification and the status of students within the program. These were some of the issues that interviewees cited to support their feeling that USM's School of Library and Information Science has failed to seize the opportunity created by the legislation to reach out to this segment of potential library professionals. This prompted the conclusion that the program had not been expanded in this concentration, which I believe is correct.

Editor's Note:

Mississippi passed legislation in 1994 that requires public schools with more than 500 students to hire a full-time library media specialist and schools with fewer than 500 to hire a half-time library media specialist. That puts the state and the University of Southern Mississippi -- the state's sole library school -- in the all-too-rare position of being able to boost the number of library media specialists employed in public schools. In "The Prognosis, Doctor?" Dr. Nancy Everhart found, however, that "despite the potential for new students," the University of Southern Mississippi "has not expanded offerings in its school library concentration" (p. 35).

As you've read, Dr. Joy Greiner, the director of the School of Library and Information Science at the University of Southern Mississippi, takes issue with Dr. Everhart's characterization of her program. While School Library Journal supports Everhart's original statement, we should have counseled Everhart during the editing process to contact Greiner and allow her an opportunity to comment.

Lean Library Budgets

Because libraries do so many things for so many members of the community, serving people before birth to their final days, in so many different ways, one might easily think the following "fact" is a "true fact":

"But the fact is, libraries are expensive, and whatever their personal views, good reporters feel an obligation on behalf of their audience to make sure that money is spent wisely." (SLJ, September 1998, p. 113)

Public libraries are unfortunately among the least expensive of all public services. In Orange, NJ, where I worked, the public library received about 2¢ of the local tax dollar. When pleading for decent funding, I used to tell our elected officials that if the library was abolished, most taxpayers wouldn't notice the "savings" on their tax bill. (Public money should always be spent wisely for inexpensive as well as expensive services.)

ALA & BSA

I am a school librarian, the mother of three boys, and, in my "free" time, the Cubmaster of Pack 91 in Grayslake, Il. I have only been moved to write to an editor twice. A year or two ago I wrote my first letter to the editor to Scouting Around, the monthly Boy Scout magazine, in response to another letter to the editor. Some well-meaning but clueless gentleman wrote to say that he didn't understand why the boys were not given "good books" to read with "great stories" like the books he read when he was a boy. Among his disturbing examples of these "great stories" were the Tom Swift books.

Years ago in library school, we had an archival collection of children's literature through the ages, which included a few volumes of Tom Swift. I was shocked and amazed to think that the boys I grew up with were reading these books because that was what was available to them at the time. More serious than the poor writing was the blatant sexism and racism. Somewhere in one of the first chapters, the boy that lives down the street was referred to as the "nigger" boy. Unbelievable!

I wrote to the editor explaining that times had changed and perhaps someone better reread these old books before even mentioning them in a nationally distributed magazine, let alone recommending them. I also recommended that they should "ask a professional, ask a librarian." My letter was not published.

There has been a great deal of philosophical discussion about organizational issues in the American Library Association and Boy Scouts of America recently. The organizations are missing the most important issue: the needs of the children. If professional librarians are not recommending books to the boys, this guy and others like him will be. I understand the need for national organizations to take a stand, but I disagree with both groups. I am here to serve the boys. Both groups have made decisions recently that serve the organizations, but, in my opinion, do not serve the boys.

Lexiles Don't Always Add Up

Your recent news article about the "Lexile Framework" program being used in North Carolina ("Company Touts System to Match Students and Books," September 1998, p. 94) prompts me to share my experiences. Last year, I worked in a North Carolina public school where a Lexile list of books was sent home with students with virtually no explanation. Students came into our elementary library saying, "I've gotta read something on this list!" Well, I had some fifth graders whose list included books in the range of War and Peace (not on the list, but something similar). I had nothing in our library to offer them and I saw no need to stock those adult-interest books.

Similarly, one sad fifth grader had simple picture books on his list and he was too embarrassed to check them out, even if they were his reading level.Potential users need to understand that the Lexiles only address word count, not subject matter or age appropriateness. Be cautious!

Corrections:

On page 32 of the August issue ("The Prognosis, Doctor? In Some States, School Library Staffing's on the Mend"), there is a typographical error in the map legend. It should read "For states that did not respond, data are from Public School Student, Staff, and Graduate Counts by State, School Year 1995-96, U.S. Dept. of Education (NCES 97-541), not 1994-95 as printed.

Although difficult to ascertain at this point, it appears that Mississippi data given to SLJ for its last staffing survey in 1994 and used again in the August 1998 survey was incorrect. In "Staffing for Success," (June 1994, pp. 29-31), SLJ reported that there were 2,618 students to each library media specialist in Mississippi. That seems highly unlikely, given that in its 1993 survey, SLJ reported there were 758 students to each library media specialist (June 1993, p. 36). Since Mississippi's Department of Education did not participate in this newest survey, author Dr. Nancy Everhart used U.S. Department of Education statistics for 1995-96, which indicated there were 675 students to each library media specialist. Since the 1994 figure was so skewed, the "Mississippi Miracle" described (August 1998, p. 35) is not so miraculous after all, but merely impressive. Using accurate data from U.S. Department of Education, the student-to-school librarian ratio improved 15 percent from the 1994-95 school year to the 1996-97 school year.